Company events where nobody has to show up

It always starts with one person

The events that work best are the ones somebody on the team genuinely wants. You can't schedule enthusiasm into a calendar and send out an invite for it. It comes from one person, and the others join in because they want to, not because they have to.

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Here's a good example. One of our colleagues started going to the gym because his desk neighbour got him into it. And beyond the physical side, it helps him switch off after a day spent over code.

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Running went pretty much the same way. Some of us really love it, and it caught on. Nobody pushed anyone. It ended with us running a 5K race together.

‍"Thanks so much for this experience! I'm deliberately not saying 'today's', because as amazing as today was, the run-up to it felt just as good. The planning, the advice, the training together, and honestly the fact that we pulled it off at all, through the doubts, the wrecked knees, and the odd bit of stubbornness that kept us from letting it drop." - Markéta Haová, Project Manager & Design Team Operations

It isn't always about sport. My personal favourite is our Apalucha trip. Every year the parents at Flow get together and bring their kids along for a weekend in the mountains. We usually get around twenty children. We put together treasure hunts, we get crafty, we play board games. There is no fixed programme. The families meet up and the weekend finds its own pace.

Organising events isn't an after-hours hobby

We treat organising events as a normal part of the job. And it isn't easy. Getting an event to work, and getting people to actually want to come, takes real effort. And that starts with knowing people.

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None of this came out of a strategy presentation. I built it from what I noticed as a newcomer. I added what came up in team check-ins and what people talked about on Slack.

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An event dreamed up for the whole company usually suits no one. I want to know what specific people enjoy, and start from there. So we ask new colleagues straight away what they get up to in their free time. They can then share their hobbies with everyone at what we call light talks. A lot of our event ideas came from exactly there.

Over time our events settled into four streams on their own.

• Sport and adrenaline: for people who want to push past their limit. This is running and the races I mentioned above, beach volleyball, and going to the gym together. Other sports get added depending on who's caught the bug for what.
• Chill and relax: for those who want the exact opposite after work. Getting together, having a proper chat over a good coffee or a beer, and being in no rush. Think pub quizzes or a summer barbecue.
• Beyond the team: for the moments when an event isn't only about us. We donate blood together and take part in charity sports events. Last year we ran a challenge in aid of Debra, for children with butterfly skin. This is the stream I feel closest to.

• Beyond the office: when we pack up and move somewhere else entirely. In spring there's Apalucha. Twice a year the whole company heads off for a few days to our Meet the Flow offsite out in nature. We do a company retro, talk through where we're heading, and there's no shortage of light talks or hikes together. And the furthest some of us get is a remote office in the Canary islands.

"Some people get lucky and find a great job. Some get lucky and find great colleagues in that great job too. Somehow, through a mix of coincidences and a nudge from friends, I got lucky enough to have both. And thanks to that I got the chance to head off on a November work trip beyond Europe, to the Canary Islands. Highlights and personal firsts: 1. highest point I've ever reached, the Pico de Teide volcano, 2. furthest I've ever been from home, 3. most active week of hiking with the altitude changes, staying just above sea level and climbing somewhere new every other day, 4. swimming in the ocean. All of this and more, and out of five working days I took only a day and a half off. An unbelievable amount packed in, and somehow still a proper rest. Thank you, Etnetera Flow, for the opportunity." - Jiří Tomis, iOS Developer

After an event, I ask what people got out of it

No event ends for me the moment we head home. Afterwards I always send round a short survey. I want to know what people took from it, what left them cold, and what we should do differently next time.

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It isn't about checking attendance. I see it as a way to keep events close to what people actually care about. What worked, we keep. What didn't land, we drop or rework next time.

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That's how the whole thing gradually shapes itself, around whoever's here and what they enjoy.

You don't have to come

If you don't want to, you don't go. And nobody looks at you sideways for it. We don't keep an attendance sheet. That's the other side of freedom.

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And that's exactly why people come gladly. When the enthusiasm is your own, you turn up glad to be there. When you don't fancy it, nothing happens either. Without that, our events would be just another entry in the calendar. This way they're something to look forward to.

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And when someone gets an event off the ground, they know they'll see it through. That's the responsibility that comes with freedom.